Famous Last Words is a series of interviews conducted with notable names and only released after their death and is offers an incredible opportunity
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xactly one day after the death of actor Eric Dane, a new show appeared on Netflix. Entitled Famous Last Words, it consisted of an interview with none other than Eric Dane himself. While at first the timing of the release might have seemed coincidental at best and exploitative at worst, the reality of the interview was something else entirely.
Dane, it transpired, had recorded the interview in full knowledge that he was dying. What’s more, he conducted it on the understanding that it would only be released in the event of his death. Because this is the conceit behind Famous Last Words. It exists as a living obituary, as an opportunity to go on the record for the very last time to contextualise their life in a manner of their choosing.
Clearly then, it is an emotional thing to sit through. In a room with host Brad Fulchuk (and nobody else; the cameras are all unmanned and fixed in position), Dane went about describing how he was coping with late-stage ALS, noting that his battles with drugs and alcohol had left him familiar with the sensation that his inside did not match his outside. He discussed the regrets he had, and the struggle to forgive himself for his past mistakes. And then, seven minutes from the end, Fulchuk left the room.
